Solenoid Motor From A VCR Head

Here’s a solenoid motor you can build from a VCR head and some common components. It uses an LED and a light sensor, paired with an LM311 comparator to manage the switching of the motor. As the head turns, the LED shines on the sensor through a hole and triggers a TIP120 transistor to turn on the motor during the power stroke. Once the beam of light is broken, the transistor turns off the motor and the momentum carries it through its revolution until the next power stroke is activated.

We often say that “why” is the wrong question. [Bd5940] must feel the same way because he ends the video by saying: “it has no use, but definitely a conversation piece”. Yep, we’ve seen that before.

14 thoughts on “Solenoid Motor From A VCR Head”

could totally use this in some form of a steampunk type of hack. maybe a fan of some sort. Reminds me of the old style belt driven fans they used to use in hotels. one motor driving 3-4 ceiling fans all with belts.

Solenoids aren’t usually used to open and close in rapid succession, right? I think the advantage of a solenoid is that you can generate a lot of torque in a linear direction (like locking or unlocking doors).

I know he said it has no use but, I’m not even sure how to describe what he did. It’s like a linear actuator that might be more efficient because it only uses power during part of its cycle?

@andrew: I think this would be much more efficient if an AC drive was used to power the solenoid. Sync the phase with the crank position to get max output vs. input. Inductors in general are rather poor in therms of on/off (square wave) operation.

This may sound stupid, but what is the name for that white construction material everybody uses? I have seen it many times before in these kind of projects, but can’t seem to find it in DIY-shops here (Belgium)…